Human TWEAK (UniProtKB O43508, TNF-related weak inducer of apoptosis; SEQ ID NO: 68) is a cell surface associated type II transmembrane protein. TWEAK is described in Chicheportiche, Y., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272 (1997) 32401-32410; Marsters, S. A., et al., Curr. Biol. 8 (1998) 525-528; Lynch, C. N., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274 (1999) 8455-8459. The active form of TWEAK is a soluble homotrimer. Human and murine TWEAK show 93% sequence identity in receptor binding domain. The TWEAK receptor Fn14 (fibroblast growth factor inducible 14 kDa protein) is a 129 amino acid (aa) type I transmembrane protein consisting of one single cysteine rich domain in ligand binding domain (SEQ ID NO: 98). Signaling of TWEAK occurs via NF-KB pathway activation. TWEAK mRNA is expressed in a variety of tissues and found in most major organs like heart, brain, skeletal muscle, and pancreas, tissues related to the immune system like spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus. Fn14 mRNA has been detected in heart, brain, lung, placenta, vascular EC and smooth muscle cells. TWEAK-null and Fn14-null knockout mice are viable, healthy and fertile and have more natural killer cells and display an enhanced innate inflammatory response. TWEAK is involved in apoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis, ischemic penumbra, cerebral edema, multiple sclerosis.
Anti-TWEAK antibodies are mentioned in WO 1998/005783, WO 2000/042073, WO 2003/086311, WO 2006/130429, WO 2006/130374, WO 2006/122187, WO 2006/089095, WO 2006/088890, WO 2006/052926.
Human IL-17A (CTLA-8, Swiss Prot Q16552, further named as IL-17 or IL17; SEQ ID NO: 70)) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by a subset of memory T cells (called Th17) that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of MS. IL-17A plays a role in the induction of other inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and adhesion molecules. Treatment of animals with IL-17A neutralizing antibodies decreases disease incidence and severity in autoimmune encephalomyelitis (Komiyama, Y. et al., J. Immunol. 177 (2006) 566-573). IL-17A is over-expressed in the cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients (Hellings, P. W. et al., Am. J. Resp. Cell Mol. Biol. 28 (2003) 42-50; Matusevicius, D. et al., Multiple Sclerosis 5 (1999) 101-104; WO 2005/051422). In addition, IL-17A neutralizing antibodies reduce severity and incidence of mouse RA model of collagen induced arthritis, and high levels of IL-17A can be detected in the synovial fluid of inflamed joints from RA patients (Ziolkowska, M,. et al., J. Immunol. 164 (2000) 2832-2838; Kotake, S., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 103 (1999) 1345-1352; Hellings, P. W., et al., Am. J. Resp. Cell Mol. Biol. 28 (2003) 42-50).
WO 96/17939, U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,623; WO 95/18826; WO 97/15320; WO 99/35276 and WO 00/69436 WO 95/18826 U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,711, U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,711, WO 97/15320, U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,372, WO 2006/013107 and WO 2008/02115 relate to IL-17A and antibodies against IL-17A. WO 2010/102251 relates IL17 binding proteins.
Bispecific Antibodies
A wide variety of recombinant antibody formats have been developed in the recent past, e.g. tetravalent bispecific antibodies by fusion of, e.g., an IgG antibody format and single chain domains (see e.g. Coloma, M. J., et al., Nature Biotech 15 (1997) 159-163; WO 2001/077342; and Morrison, S. L., Nature Biotech 25 (2007) 1233-1234).
Also several other new formats wherein the antibody core structure (IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG or IgM) is no longer retained such as dia-, tria- or tetrabodies, minibodies, several single chain formats (scFv, Bis-scFv), which are capable of binding two or more antigens, have been developed (Holliger, P., et al., Nature Biotech 23 (2005) 1126-1136; Fischer, N., Léger, O., Pathobiology 74 (2007) 3-14; Shen, J., et al., Journal of Immunological Methods 318 (2007) 65-74; Wu, C., et al., Nature Biotech. 25 (2007) 1290-1297).
All such formats use linkers either to fuse the antibody core (IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG or IgM) to a further binding protein (e.g. scFv) or to fuse e.g. two Fab fragments or scFvs (Fischer, N., Léger, O., Pathobiology 74 (2007) 3-14). It has to be kept in mind that one may want to retain effector functions, such as e.g. complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) or antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), which are mediated through the Fc receptor binding, by maintaining a high degree of similarity to naturally occurring antibodies.
In WO 2007/024715 are reported dual variable domain immunoglobulins as engineered multivalent and multispecific binding proteins. A process for the preparation of biologically active antibody dimers is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,044. Multivalent FV antibody construct having at least four variable domains which are linked with each over via peptide linkers are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,330. Dimeric and multimeric antigen binding structures are reported in US 2005/0079170. Tri- or tetra-valent monospecific antigen-binding protein comprising three or four Fab fragments bound to each other covalently by a connecting structure, which protein is not a natural immunoglobulin are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,663. In WO 2006/020258 tetravalent bispecific antibodies are reported that can be efficiently expressed in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and are useful in therapeutic and diagnostic methods. A method of separating or preferentially synthesizing dimers which are linked via at least one interchain disulfide linkage from dimers which are not linked via at least one interchain disulfide linkage from a mixture comprising the two types of polypeptide dimers is reported in US 2005/0163782. Bispecific tetravalent receptors are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,083. Engineered antibodies with three or more functional antigen binding sites are reported in WO 2001/077342.
Multispecific and multivalent antigen-binding polypeptides are reported in WO 1997/001580. WO 1992/004053 reports homoconjugates, typically prepared from monoclonal antibodies of the IgG class which bind to the same antigenic determinant are covalently linked by synthetic cross-linking. Oligomeric monoclonal antibodies with high avidity for antigen are reported in WO 1991/06305 whereby the oligomers, typically of the IgG class, are secreted having two or more immunoglobulin monomers associated together to form tetravalent or hexavalent IgG molecules. Sheep-derived antibodies and engineered antibody constructs are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,860, which can be used to treat diseases wherein interferon gamma activity is pathogenic. In US 2005/0100543 are reported targetable constructs that are multivalent carriers of bi-specific antibodies, i.e., each molecule of a targetable construct can serve as a carrier of two or more bi-specific antibodies. Genetically engineered bispecific tetravalent antibodies are reported in WO 1995/009917. In WO 2007/109254 stabilized binding molecules that consist of or comprise a stabilized scFv are reported.
WO 2008/106131 relates to bispecific antibodies against IL23 and IL17 or TNF. WO 2007/027761 relates to bispecific antibodies against IL23 and IL17. WO 2010/003108 relates TNFalpha antagonist multitarget binding proteins.